The TEDxAmsterdamED Worldschooling Experience

21 Apr The TEDxAmsterdamED Worldschooling Experience

*disclaimer: I wrote this yesterday, during their rehearsals and talk, but all of the USA was asleep, so it is being posted now, April 21st, the day after the TEDx talk.*

We are in the building, I repeat, we are In The Building.

Today is the day of the TEDx Talk! They have dressing rooms, makeup artists, free food, and a myriad of inspirational people filling the seats. Lainie and Miro are rehearsing with their coach while looking over the serene canals right outside of the theater.

The magician in the floral suit keeps pacing back and forth, the violinist burst into the room with the biggest smile on her face after her performance, and the volunteers are running around like chickens with their heads cut off; it’s show day! They kicked it off with a Q&A session.

The Q&A involved questions from mothers, teachers, curious people, and all of them were insightful and but been heard before as such radical unschoolers. Questions like: What about math? Where do core classes come in? How do you fund your travel? How do you document your learning? Do you have community? Where do you make friends? After answering all of these, we enjoyed the incredible lunch and sat in on some talks.

Finally, it was time for their talk. They stepped on stage, and absolutely killed it. Although the time and content had to be cut down to fit in the 14 minutes window they were given, it was still a piece of art to witness. The crowd ooed and awhed, laughed and gasped as they listened to their journey. It was incredible to witness them touching so many people’s lives in such a way.

After the talk, they were approached by many, many people. They had a friend fly all the way from Africa to see them, and had countless other people come up and say what an impact their talk had on their lives. We had mothers and educators alike come up to tell them that their talk was the most inspiring of the day. What a huge compliment! All in all, the TEDx talk was a success. Now as we all wind down, it’s time to look back fondly on the experience, and look forward to the recording being up soon! Until then, I put together a video of the process that went into the final product of the talk. Enjoy!